Information technology (IT) and electronic business (e-business) solutions are important for business competitiveness and growth for many companies. An e-business or IT solution is typically a set of applications, or software packages, grouped together to solve a problem. A number of difficulties in IT systems and e-business solutions, however, can cause maintenance, planning, and management of these systems to be difficult. First, many IT systems are complex. Many IT systems use a large number of applications that can exist on a large number of servers in a variety of locations. In addition, a large number of participants can take part in an e-business solution. Many IT systems, therefore, have a large number of components that form sizeable e-business systems of potentially overwhelming complexity.
Complexity for some IT systems results because it is often difficult to determine what applications are running as part of the e-business solution, where those applications are running, and who is running those applications. Relationships also exist between two or more applications in which one application uses another application in some way. These relationships, or “dependencies,” between applications are often difficult to determine. For example, common building blocks such as databases, web servers, and application servers can be used by many different applications. Knowledge of dependencies in a system can be important. The failure of one application due to a bug or system malfunction can cause a larger breakdown of an e-business system due to dependencies between the applications of the e-business system. Detailed knowledge of the organization of applications and the dependencies between applications can provide valuable insight into repairing system malfunctions, planning for future growth, and managing the IT system.
The rapid change of many IT systems can also make management of IT systems difficult. E-business solutions can change rapidly as technology changes and as the needs of the e-business solution are modified. New servers, databases, and applications can be added to upgrade a system or to improve performance. It can therefore become difficult and expensive to track and fix problems, modify the e-business solution, and plan for future growth.
A lack of information about large, complex systems can also make maintenance of IT systems difficult. The organization and information about a company's e-business system is typically locked up in the heads of one or more IT professionals within a company. The loss of knowledgeable IT personnel can make system management time-consuming and burdensome for personnel who are not familiar with the entire structure of the IT system.